Obama asks Bosnia not to support Palestinian bid

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina – President Barack Obama has sent a letter to Bosnian leaders urging them not to support the Palestinian bid for statehood at the U.N. Security Council, authorities said Thursday.

Bosnia has a non-permanent seat on the Security Council, and its three-member presidency is split on the issue. The Bosniak supports the Palestinians, the Serb is pro-Israeli and the Croat has not made his position clear. Without unanimity, Bosnia must abstain, which counts as a 'no' at the Security Council.

As a result, the country has become the focal point of lobbying efforts by Israelis, Palestinians and others with a stake in the outcome of the vote, which may come Nov. 11. The Palestinians claim they have secured eight of nine required votes for a majority on the council, while the U.S. has promised a veto.

The Serb member of the Bosnian presidency, Nebojsa Radmanovic, said Thursday that he has been locally and internationally criticized for not supporting the Palestinian bid, but that he is just "acting in the interest of the state of Bosnia-Herzegovina ... as well as in the interest of the Jewish people, the Palestinians and the peace in the Middle East."

http://old.news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111103/ap_on_re_eu/eu_bosnia_palestinian_bid

Perhaps the author meant that the Serb member understood the necessary contructs of the Oslo Accord that called for direct negotiations with Israel rather than a declaration by the UN.

vote to recognize Palestine without defining Palestine's borders to leave the Jewish state at least in the borders of the original Resolution in the 1940s.

The United Nations is not a credible organization if it reneges on its original resolution to form a whole country, regardless of what country it is.